An Open Apology to Hillary Clinton

I owe @HillaryClinton an apology. I owe her supporters an apology. I supported @BernieSanders in the primary. I voted for @HillaryClinton in the election. But I was really voting against Donald Trump.

I liked Bernie because I believed in his message. I still do. He spoke about issues I cared about, long before I had ever heard of him.

I always imagined myself a disenfranchised voter, because I’m not a member of either party. I strongly believe a duopoly is undemocratic.

Bernie talked about this, but I realize now there’s a lot of things Bernie didn’t talk about it, or didn’t talk about enough. For instance I may be disenfranchised, but I can still vote. There’s a lot of people who cannot. They can’t vote at all. In any election.

And there are other things he talked about too much. One of those things is Hillary. He gave my bias a voice. He wasn’t honest about her. He painted her as a villain. She’s not a villain. Donald Trump is a villain. He painted her as corrupt. Again, Donald Trump, anyone?

I realized today I had a strong bias against Hillary that isn’t grounded in reality. I realized this because I see her differently now.

She’s incredibly intelligent. She’s deeply knowledgeable. And if she only cared about money, she wouldn’t need either of those things. She would just run as a Republican. You don’t need to know shit to accumulate wealth as a Republican. But she’s a Democrat. By choice.

She made mistakes. We all do. But she was never treated fairly. Her mistakes weren’t explained. They were used as fodder against her. I never got to know the real Hillary, because after a lifetime of assaults it was near-impossible for her to come across so authentic.

I now see how badly she has been mistreated. By Bernie. By the press. By me. I’m ashamed of that. And I’m deeply sorry about it too.

@HillaryClinton, I apologize I did not get to know you. You’re the public servant we need, but never deserved. You’d make a great POTUS.

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11 Comments

You are a perfect example of a phenomenon pointed out during the election. For the entirety of her political life, Hillary Clinton has been highly respected at any time she is NOT seeking political power. This was especially true when her approval rating was at a record high during her tenure as Secretary of State, and plummeted the minute she announced her Presidential campaign. She is an incredible politician, progressive in her thinking, liberal but moderate, knowledgeable about government and our role on the world stage. She would have been an amazing President, but she is a woman who dared to stand up and seek power, and the patriarchy wouldn’t allow that. Now that she is no longer running, those who were so violently opposed to her suddenly start thinking back to all the good things she’s done and realize she’s not such a bad sort after all…

I disagree she is way too imbedded in the status quo of wall street. This protection of the 1% is still the great American evil, more so than any of this racist violence and Russian influence going on.

You’re great at repeating the same bullshit that got us into this mess in the first place. Do you REALLY think that Trump is isn’t “imbedded into the status quo of wall street”? Are you such a baby, that you insist on having everything you want all at once? Are you such an ignorant fool that you can’t see progress is more possible in small steps, than in giant leaps?

You’re the problem dude, not the author. The author of this letter has figured it out. You? You’re still lost in hiperbole. Grow up.

Unlike Wall St corruption, racist violence has been a problem for centuries in this country… a problem that only became a problem once black people dared to want freedom from enslavement. This will always be Americas greatest evil, if for no other reason, because of the hundreds of thousands of lives lost to it. Wall Street corruption never killed anybody.

So you just realized that bias is real, oops, you’re sorry? I want to say better late than never, except in this case, it might actually be too late. And no amount of eloquent words is going to make up for that.

Please give there guy kudos for taking the time to sort through the misinformation that has been surrounding Hillary for years. As a friend of hers, I know how hard she has worked for practical progressive views. She is the president we wanted and needed.

Hillary would have been the most progressive President on domestic issues since LBJ and would have appointed a Justice that gave the
Supreme Court a progressive majority for the first time in 45 years. She was far from perfect but the contrast with an easily predictable
Trume presidency was incredible. Hillary was particularly strong on issues of race which is why she tended to win big in communities
of color. There are daily reminders of the consequences of her defeat in spite of winning 3 million more votes.

At some point in everyone’s life there is a moment where an important light bulb goes on. Not everyone will admit when they’ve made a mistake. If you can examine the areas that made it possible to cloud your view, and influenced your position before, so that it doesn’t happen again, then we are one person closer to a more responsible democracy, and that is a good thing.

I take exception to a paragraph in this piece in which the author claims Bernie Sanders was dishonest about Hillary Clinton and “painted her as a villain.” I listened to all the debates and many of Bernie Sander’s speeches throughout the primaries, and I never heard it. I did hear anger from some Bernie supporters, especially in response to many who ran the Clinton campaign with condescension toward those not on their team. I still get it today from some of those who are so ready to blame everyone but the Clinton campaign for blowing a sure thing. I do not owe an apology to Clinton, and I give “RSWFIRE” no credit at all for her cloak of anonymity.